Designing with Woven Metal Mesh
There are few architectural materials as versatile, beautiful and functional as woven wire mesh. It can be incorporated into floors, ceilings, railing infills, curtains, partitions, facades, canopies, or anything else an architect can imagine.
SOA has found this material indispensable as a design element for several of our signature clients. Woven metal mesh has been a prominent element in casework accents, ADA enclosures, facility signage and room partitions. The only limitation to the product’s use is imagination. If you can design it, chances are woven metal mesh can be fabricated to accommodate your need.
SOA and Banker Wire
SOA’s success using woven wire mesh starts with a reliable and experienced manufacturer. We choose to work with Banker Wire. SOA feels Banker Wire’s experience and strong design capabilities is the critical difference in creating mesh products which meet the demand of our custom designs.
For more than 5 years, SOA and Banker Wire have worked together on a variety of projects, including most recently SOA’s own office. Banker is a reliable, creative partner who SOA returns to again and again. Their expertise in understanding the design concept coupled with their talent in fabrication, make them the undisputed choice for us. They are always up for the challenge to fulfill the most ambitious design goals.
A Strong Partnership
“SOA is the perfect customer. They approach growth from the outside in, not the inside out, seeking new ideas from a wide variety of external sources to influence and improve creative output. Robbie Price’s passion for design and his interest in products – this knowledge and curiosity – make him excellent to work with and have made his firm highly inventive and successful.”
– Harrison Horan – Vice President, Banker Wire
SOA Projects
CUSTOM SIGNAGE
In one such application, Banker provided SOA with mesh for a custom backlit lobby sign at the Regional Economic Development, Inc (REDI) offices in Columbia, MO. REDI’s new corporate office was to be located in a downtown retail lease space. One of the project design challenges was how to identify the business with a fresh, distinctive look but without the use of exterior signage.
SOA elected to use the REDI logo as the signature feature for the company’s entry lobby. Highlighted against a vibrant red background, the REDI logo becomes the physical embodiment of the company’s innovative and collaborative mission – to attract, expand and promote business opportunities to Columbia. REDI accomplishes this by weaving public and private resources together, layering existing workforce talent with incentives to create a fertile business environment.
The design of the REDI sign mirrors this multi-level approach to create a unique and eye-catching look.
The design incorporates over-lapping layers of Banker Wire flat-top, stainless steel wire mesh mounted on aluminum standoffs. The complete logo is stenciled onto the large, background mesh panel. Subsequent letters on smaller panels hover at different layers. Viewed head-on, the letters are aligned and the sign looks 2-D. But as the viewer moves, the sign takes on depth, coming alive from the ‘moire’ effect and the moving shadows of the stacked letters. The entire sign is back-lit with LED wall wash fixtures hidden in an upper/lower cove.
The net result is a distinctive feature wall which gives the space a bright, energetic feeling and promotes the REDI logo with impressive visibility and movement. At night, with only the light of this sign emanating from within, the presence of this signage commands great attention and fills the space with a vibrant red glow.
MESH ENCLOSURE/CLADDING
At Central Bank of Boone County in Columbia, MO, SOA called on Banker to provide customized panels of architectural mesh for radiator covers, ADA vanity enclosures and desk cladding.
As part of this interior re-design of the lobby, SOA used Banker Wire stainless steel mesh as a coordinating accent to the original 1916 steel bank vault doors. These twin stainless doors have great visual presence and define the overall look of the lobby. The metal mesh compliments this aesthetic with an understated yet elegant update to the existing design.
For the 1960-era, stamp metal, hydronic radiator covers, stainless steel mesh provided a perfect solution of opaqueness to hide the internal heating fins yet allow enough net free area for unimpeded air flow. All of this was obtained with a very clean, contemporary look. It also served as a durable, low maintenance cladding which eliminated the need for repainting or repairing dents and scratches.
Banker Wire supplied the wire mesh and the solid, brushed stainless steel end covers for five different sized radiator configurations. SOA provided detailed drawings of the intended design and Banker cut and brake bent the mesh to conform. The solid end plates were custom fabricated by Banker. The result was perfectly integrated with the metal finishes of the Lobby’s pendant lighting, hand rails and tile base caps.
This same metal mesh was used for the ADA pipe guards on the project’s vanities. SOA envisioned a floating stone slab to carry the thin profile sinks and did not want a solid pipe guard or worse, insulated pipe covers. Banker mesh was used in a simple metal frame to lighten the look of the guard and to carry the metal design accent into the bathrooms. The metal mesh compliments the finish of the plumbing and lighting fixtures and elevates the design of this washroom with a sophistication commensurate with the rest of the project.
ROOM PARTITION
Banker Wire metal mesh is center stage in SOA’s own corporate office, acting as a canvas for the firm’s logo behind the main reception desk. Using mesh for this partition provided a unique demarcation between the firm’s entrance and the design studio while preserving the open feeling of the office. The mesh lends a distinctive look and highlights SOA’s logo. At night the signage is visible from the exterior and illuminates the space with a captivating orange glow.
The partition design incorporates two runs of five mesh panels suspended in tension from ceiling-to-floor with stainless steel cables. The sign component, fabricated from a sandwich of two sound absorbing panels, occupies the
space in between providing a colorful background for the SOA logo and some acoustical control. The mesh is a custom design with progressive spacing between the horizontal wires which open more in the middle to highlight the SOA letters.
SOA worked with Banker’s design team to utilize a proprietary 3-piece stainless capture spine with which to terminate each panel and allow it to be suspended and tensioned. Banker fabricated a custom mesh design, mounted and secured the spines, then drop shipped the panels to SOA. Off-the-shelf cable display hardware from Griplock System was used for the suspension system. Rails were attached to floor and ceiling, then two pairs of cable /clevis were connected to each panel’s capture spine and then tensioned. This was a simple yet elegant solution which allowed the panels to float within the space between.
The employees at SOA installed the cables and clevis and hung the panels in an afternoon. Recessed LED wall wash fixtures in the ceiling were used to illuminate the sign panel. The result is a unique visual room partition which defines the space, provides an innovative and highly recognizable sign, and sets a creative design aesthetic for the firm.
A WORD ABOUT BANKER WIRE
Banker Wire operates the most productive and modern metal mesh mill in the United States. Banker Wire is known as the “Wire Mesh Authority.”
Banker Wire is the premier manufacturer of wire mesh fabrics in North America. Banker’s commitment to the highest quality remains never-ending. In the wire mesh industry, the name ‘Banker’ is synonymous with quality.
In theory, the wire weaving and the wire crimping processes are simple. But the details, which vary among manufacturers, make or break mesh in terms of aesthetics and performance – and as the leading manufacturer of this material, Banker inherently understands the difference that a proven process makes in mesh quality. The result of this process is a consistent and repeatable product – saving fabricators time and money and providing architects and designers with a beautiful, functional material. Not to mention, an endless variety of metal compositions can be shaped into wire, and any metal wire can be crimped and woven. Together, the Banker Wire process and its level of customization allow imagination to become reality.
As the Wire Mesh Authority, Banker Wire manufactures an enormous range of beautiful, high-quality, woven wire mesh for both decorative and functional applications. The use of superior materials and a century’s worth of experience allow Banker to manufacture the perfect wire mesh for every project quickly and within its budget. Every piece of mesh is built to architects’ custom specifications.
To explore the design and architecture possibilities with woven metal mesh, visit Banker Wire at http://www.bankerwire.com/
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